The Litter Collection Side Hustle

If you're like me, you've probably volunteered to help clean up your neighborhood, a local playground where kids play, or even a trail in a local park.

Believe it or not, this simple to start and run business is actually an income-generating side hustle that some entrepreneurs are using to pull in over $600,000 per year. Sound interesting? Read on...

In this article, we're going to move away from the more complex businesses that we've been discussing previously. In this side hustle, we're going to focus on a small, easy to run, and easy to operate business. But along with the others I've shown you, this is also another 6-figure opportunity.

This business is a subsector of the $52 billion US waste management business. Globally, the growth projection is staggering. Industry analysts are predicting that global revenues will reach $2.483 trillion by 2030.

The bohemoth in this industry, Waste Management (WM), brought in $15.2 billion in 2021. In scouring through tons of articles, I was surprised to learn that there were companies operating in the $5 to $8 million range throughout the US - doing exactly what Waste Management is doing. So, I guess there's still room to compete there. These smaller versions of WM were securing contracts with HOAs who provided trash collection as part of their HOA dues. Some focused on whole towns in Massachusetts where trash collection is part of the property taxes paid.

There are many specialty subsectors in this industry as well. They tend to be very focused. Some just pick up hazardous waste while others just pick up scrap metal. The latter get the scrap metal from auto and truck servicing shops, as well as the large volumes of scrap produced by local manufacturing plants. These individuals or companies bring the metal to salvage yards and are paid varying amounts depending on the types of metal they bring in.

Some other subsectors provide junk pick-up and haul-away services. These companies come and haul away your attic, garage, and basement 'treasures' for a fee. You've probably seen some of the franchises that have popped up in this sector, like 1-800-GOT-JUNK franchise owners who charge a minimum of $129 to haul your junk away. These companies not only earn money from you, they're bringing that old metal stove and refrigerator you had them haul up from your basement to the salvage yards as well.

One friend who helped me clear out the basement in my parent's home after they both passed away, showed me a small chunk of silver in my dad's tool box that was about the size of a silver dollar. He said if it was pure silver it will be worth about $32 at a scrap yard. That tiny piece of information completely changed how I viewed the clutter and mess in my parent's basement. It became a treasure hunt once I understood the potential value of those old metal files, nails, screwdrivers, wire, copper fittings, and other metal we found.

An Interesting Subsector

Those business examples were the obvious ones that are part of this enormous industry. But one subsector that caught my eye as a little-known side hustle involved entrepreneurs and companies that worked in the litter collection side of this mammoth business. What I liked about it was that it was very similar to how temporary personnel business in style, but these were long-term contracts that you were getting. Basically, you're bidding on a multi-year contract that will need 1-10 people to manage.

What do the people in this subsector do? Well, if you've ever been to a large movie theater or mall parking lot, you will see the problem. Crushed cups litter the parking lot. Empty bottles were stuck in shrubs and trees as if they were part of some holiday ornament display. And nowadays, used masks from the pandemic can be found discarded everywhere you look. Don't believe me? Take a quick trip to your favorite mall or theater.

Most of these big lots are maintained by power sweep equipment, but those services usually don't come more than once or twice a month because of the expense involved. In between, things can get pretty cluttered with litter:

This is where your opportunity arises. What you provide is a daily walk-through of the parking lot and surrounding landscape areas. Your team picks up all the litter that they find, and then bags it and throws it in the local trash receptacles. Why would the strip mall of mall property manager want that service? Well, if the property starts to look like the above photo, then his or her tenants are going to move out because customers won't want to visit or shop there.

The Economics of This Business

Earlier I mentioned that I saw articles about people who were making some pretty significant dollars. So, I ran the numbers. Here is what I found. Most property managers and management companies will pay between $30/hour to $50/hour for this type of service.

Obviously, the higher-end the property is, the more you're going to get paid. Strip malls with grocery outlet stores and thrift shops are probably not going to pay as much as a strip mall that has some high-end boutiques and coffee shops.

Why are you charging by the hour? Because each property is going to be different in size. Some might only take 2 hours to clean up each day, while others might take a crew of 4 people working 8 hours per day.

So let's look at the range of dollars from above. If you multiply 40 hours per week times 50 weeks a year, that's only about 2,000 hours of time where a person can generate money. At $30/hour, you can only make $60,000/year doing this by yourself. At $50/hour, you're now at $100,000/year. That's good money, but it's now your full-time job and not a side hustle.

Obviously, the secret is to add general laborers and contractors at either minimum wage or $15/hour to attract more people. Now you can earn $15/hour to $35/hour for each hour these people work, depending on what you charge the property owner or manager, i.e., $30/hour to $50/hour. Let's say you built the business up to a crew of 10 people, and you were no longer involved in the pickup process, but focus only on the management and quality of service side of the business. That's when it becomes more of a side hustle.

So, let's look at two spreadsheets. The first one uses a $30/hour billable rate and the second example uses a $50/hour billable rate:

*These are only the gross income dollars after 1099 or W-2 wages. Other expenses need to be added. The yearly gross income dollars are based on 50 weeks. Also, I didn't allow for holidays and personal time off. You might want to drop the possible weeks to 48 to allow for another 10 days of non-billable work.

Investments and Expenses to Consider

You don't need a huge piece of equipment like you see Waste Management use. You can do this with vans and small pick-up trucks, and maybe you can pay employees with these vehicles a good mileage rate to let them earn some additional money on the side. As long as you're supplying your staff with tied garbage bags for collection purposes, that should keep the mess inside the vehicle to a minimum. Throw in a car wash service at a monthly rate, and you'll probably get your takers.

You also shouldn't need to pay dumping fees at city dumps. When you set up these contracts, you can write conditions spelling out that you will put the daily trash collected into the property owner's dumpsters, and it will be hauled away by their normal trash removal service. It may or may not cost them any more than they're already paying.

Here are some of the basic tools that I found in an internet search that you might want to consider purchasing to make the work easier. None of them are going to break the bank, but I would start off with the manual tools as a first step:

Hours of Operation

Litter clean-up typically happens after business hours. This is because litter can accumulate quickly, and it can be difficult to manage during business hours. Plus, it's more convenient for businesses to have a litter clean-up service come in after they've finished their regular work shifts. Of course, malls that stay open until late in the evening are going to need to have lighting available for your employees to see where the trash is located.

Registering Your Business

If you plan on starting this litter clean-up business, there are a few things you need to do in order to get registered. Each local and state government has different requirements, so be sure to research the specific regulations in your area. Generally, however, you will need to obtain a business license and liability insurance at a minimum. You may also need to register your business with the city or county in which you plan to operate.

Although you're not going to be hauling trash to dumps in this business, states like California and New York have a lot of requirements to protect you and your workers. You may need permits to pick up the waste, even if you're only carrying it over to the company's dumpsters.

Advertising to Your Target Market

There are lots of ways to advertise a litter clean-up business, but it all starts with the market you're planning to target. Will it be commercial properties? Government offices? Malls? Schools? Fast food establishments? Businesses? HOAs? Standalone restaurants? Standalone movie theaters? The list could be endless, because litter obviously knows no boundaries. But once you decide on your target markets, you'll need to get to the person or company that's responsible for managing that property. Those individuals are called Property Managers. You can mail flyers to the property managers, call them on the telephone, or ask an existing client if they could make an introduction to them.

When promoting your business, be sure to emphasize the importance of litter clean-up in keeping communities healthy and safe. But be sure that you understand the value that you're bringing to that business. If their parking lot is full of trash, then customers aren't going to come to visit the mall's tenants. Why is that a problem for the property owner as well as the tenant? Most of the big malls take a percentage of the sales of those tenants. So, it's in their mutual interest to keep the grounds attractive and clean so that customers and their families are comfortable visiting them. A property manager represents that property owner's interests.

Summary and Recommendations

If you're looking for an easy business to get set up and run, they don't get much easier than this. Once you start to accumulate some clients, I think you will also figure out a whole host of other services that would be companions to this litter collection. Perhaps it might be repainting the lines in the parking lot. Maybe it's washing storefront windows. Perhaps it's repair or replacement of light fixtures.

A property manager has to worry about all of these areas, so if you're doing a good job with one, giving you an opportunity with another service offering won't be a stretch for them to consider. And the more of these jobs you can handle for them, the easier you're making their lives. Imagine all of the things that can go wrong in a complex commercial building from plumbing to electricity to roof leaks, and a thousand other things. The more services a property manager can get from one entity, the easier his or her job becomes.

? Copyright, 2022, Joe DiDonato, Side Hustle Newsletter #19